Press Release - Phnom Penh, 1 June 2011

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), a non-aligned, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights in Cambodia, marks International Children’s Day, held today, by launching the findings of a study into rape cases in Cambodia on the Cambodian Human Rights Portal, www.sithi.org. The study presents information on all forms of rape committed throughout the Kingdom including, and of particular interest to International Children’s Day, those perpetrated against child victims.

The CCHR study covered the period from May 2010 to May 2011 during which time 250 cases of rape were reported in the Khmer and English language press. Our data shows that in 72% of reported cases over the time period the victim was under the age of 18. The study also showed that in cases where the relationship between the victim and the alleged perpetrator was stated, 29% of rapes victims under the age of 18 were alleged to have been perpetrated by a member of the victim’s family while 31% of rapes of minors involved a neighbour as the alleged perpetrator.

Other key findings of the investigation included:

13%of the cases recorded involved more than 1 perpetrator. 6% of these rape cases involved 3 or more perpetrators.
In 11% of rape cases recorded the perpetrator was under 18 years of age.
The most reported rape cases that CCHR recorded were in Phnom Penh with 18% occurring in Cambodia’s capital and largest city. Phnom Penh was followed by Battambang, Cambodia’s second largest city, where 12% of reported rape cases occurred.
The youngest known victim as recorded by CCHR was a two year old girl who was allegedly raped by her sixteen year old neighbour in Kandal Province. The oldest victim recorded by CCHR was a 85 year old woman from Banteay Meanchey who was allegedly raped by her son in law.

Ou Virak, President of CCHR, commented on the investigation: “International Children’s Day provides an opportunity for us to reflect upon children whose youth is stolen by the commission upon them of the heinous crime of rape. All Cambodians should unite to call on the government to act to ensure that our children are protected from the horror of rape and the perpetrators of that most cowardly crime are brought to justice. The issue of crimes against children and the way that the criminal justice system deals with such crimes must receive due attention at the Committee on the Rights of the Child when it addresses Cambodia this Friday”.

The information presented by CCHR was collected from media reports in the Khmer and English press. CCHR does not contend that the information presented is conclusive. On the contrary, it is expected that this information represents only a small proportion of rape cases that occur in Cambodia. The information is presented to offer an indication of the nature of the cases that occur and that are reported, and the manner in which they are dealt with by the authorities. CCHR encourages other organizations and institutions – government and non-government – to publish similar information to increase the material available and to enhance the public’s understanding of this issue and help the authorities to better manage there response.